An Olympian makes the Olympics!

Congrats go out to Olympia Sports Camp week 9 coach's kid Julie Brousseau on the astonishing accomplishment of qualifying for the 2024 Olympics!! Julie will be in Paris this summer and will compete in the 200m freestyle relay. 

This achievement for the now-18 year old from Ottawa is something that her father Paul and mother Lisanne, and her sisters Abby and Merielle should be very proud. And every Olympia Sports Camp family member will join the Brousseau Bandwagon and will be cheering her on this July. Its very cool that someone we met so long ago is now about to compete on the world's largest stage. The blog entry below, which is a reprised edition of one written on Dec 11, 2023, captures the continual growth of the challenges this young athlete has taken on. Will there be a gold medal around her neck? That's the next stage of her journey, yet to be determined. HERE WE GOOOO!!


Here's the blog entry that has aged well...

One theme throughout A Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp is the great many people who we meet on our journey who enrich our lives and our experiences. In the Hero's Journey, these people are called allies.

When you coach any week at a camp like Olympia Sports Camp, there may be as many as 40 coaches, 110 staff, and 300 campers who potentially can add so much to the experience. As a coach, the fellow coaches are key to sharing knowledge and passion for sport and helping the younger generation find their path. Their humanity, their humour, their mutual respect and their passion make session, meals, coach's activities, bonfires, or pick up games so much fun.  Olympia is a place where. Olympia is a people who.

People like Paul Brousseau.

I had the great fortune to coach with Paul for  the last several years of week 9. A fantastic athlete in his playing days, Paul played at McGill and at 6'5"  he was one of the most feared power forwards and best rebounders in the country. For his five years of basketball excellence Paul was inducted into the McGill Sports Hall of Fame in 2016. 

Paul coaches in Ottawa and came to Olympia with his three daughters, Abby, Julie, and Merielle. Even from a  very early age you could see that these three highly respectful young ladies had an athletic knack that their father had and it seemed whatever activity they would try they would eventually figure out, and eventually excel. Having genetics in their favour, it was always great to watch them and  you could see the potential. Being a basketball coach, I often wondered if  Paul hoped that hoops would be part of their journey,  but he talked about swimming being in their future. Paul showed at camp a zest for the coaching community, for competition and for skill development. It was so much fun, and an honour, to coach with him.

But this blog entry is not about Paul Brousseau. Say hello to 17-year old Julie Brousseau.

The life of a swimming parent means early mornings and Paul and his wife Lisanne would do the 5am wake ups for years to get the girls to the pool and train with the Nepean Kanata Barracuda Club. Julie moved up the ranks in Canadian age-group competition. She represented Ontario at the 2022 Canada Games and won a record 11 medals. At the 2023 Canadian swim trials she ranked in the top 5 in several distances and qualified for her first world-level competition, the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.


In Santiago, Julie, again a 17-year old in her first exposure to the world stage, won the gold medal in the gruelling 400m individual medley. It was great to watch the race on CBC, especially in the last 50metres where she held off the challenge from the American. This is an accomplishment of which Julie should be immensely proud, as should Paul and Lisanne, her sisters, the swimming community in Ottawa, and the entire country. With the power of the Canadian swim program the competition to even qualify must be intense and Julie is an athlete that the Olympia Sports Camp family should be proud. 

My favourite part of the race, other than the crazy skill of being able to swim all four strokes at the world level, was how nervous Julie seemed when she was introduced. It reminded me of  shy, quiet Julie at those Sunday night jamborees at Olympia  Shy yet full of fire. 

Congratulations to Julie. This is a huge step on her journey. With Paris happening this summer, I'm not sure of the qualifying process but here's hoping for the best as this Olympian vies to become a Canadian Olympian! What a journey Julie is on!


Content like this, or stories about Heroes and their journeys, will be available on the Olympia App and the Olympia Alumni Association. We know that the stories captured in The Hero's Journey: Beyond Little Norway and Olympia Sports Camp just scratch the surface of the amazing people of Olympia and we envision the OAA as a way to share many more hero's journeys and for all alumni to have a vehicle to stay in touch.

 ALUMNI ASSOCIATION 

The OAA needs your help. How many Olympia Alumni are in your circle of contacts and friends? Think of the thousands that are out there if we all tell ten friends and each of them tell ten friends and then we can all connect. If you are an Olympia Sports Camp Alumni we need you to register for the OAA and get those in your circle of Olympia contacts to do the same. The link is at:

 https://forms.gle/woWsggqM7zpUyHge9

OLYMPIA HAS AN APP! 


Olympia has created an App that will allow Alumni to connect with the camp events, read content about some amazing Olympia people, and maybe sign your child or grandchild up for the week of their lives. Simply use this QR code to get to the App and all it offers. It will take you to the Olympia website and so much more!




 If you have someone who you feel is a hero of their journey and who the Olympia community would like to hear about connect with me at coachdools71@gmail.com.  Within a community of everyday heroes there are many stories that people would love to read about, stories I would love to write about. 

Why should I buy a book?

- See the 12 steps of the hero's journey come alive

- Learn a lot about yourself by reading about the journey of others.

-Learn about the land of Interlaken, from its indigenous beginnings, to the European migration, to the Norwegians during the second world war, to the launch of Olympia Sports Camp.

- Learn about the Community of Olympia that spans over 50 years.

- Learn that Olympia is a Community of Everyday Heroes

- Learn that you, too, are a hero of your own journey

How can I buy a book

-available for order through Amazon and Indigo.ca

- available at The Different Drummer Book Store on Locust Street in Burlington

- available at the Olympia Tuck and Pro Shop

- Etransfer me $30 and I'll drive it to your house ! 

- available online at aherosjourney.ca

- audiobook version is available at Audible, Amazon, and iTunes 

If you would like us to come to your town for a book event or get copies into your favourite bookstore , email me at coachdools71@gmail.com. We travel well.

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